The Chicago Bulls have reportedly joined the Cleveland Cavaliers in the race to acquire Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love, who is expected to be dealt before the start of the 2014-15 NBA season.

ESPN's Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst reported that the Bulls are making a late push to get into the picture for Love, offering Taj Gibson and Jimmy Butler. The News-Herald also added that the Bulls might include newly signed EuroLeague star Nikola Mirotic in the deal.

Chicago's possible offer might intrigue the Timberwolves, considering how Gibson and Butler played last season, while Mirotic also showed a lot of potential in the European basketball scene over the past three years.

Gibson averaged 13.0 points to go along with 6.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game last season, while Butler posted 13.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.

But despite a strong threat from the Bulls, the Cavaliers' front office officials are still reportedly confident that they will eventually land Love and pair him up with LeBron James next season.

"Sources told ESPN.com that the Cavs firmly believe they are progressing toward a trade framework that the Minnesota Timberwolves will accept in exchange for Love and enable Cleveland to pair the versatile big man with Team USA teammate LeBron James," Stein and Windhorst wrote.

The Cavaliers are offering a trade package involving this year's No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins, last year's top pick Anthony Bennett, and a future first round pick.

The Cavaliers need to add players to match salaries to satisfy NBA trade rules, which is reportedly the reason why Cleveland struck a deal with the Utah Jazz on Tuesday.

Cleveland traded Carrick Felix, a future second-round pick, and cash in exchange for John Lucas III, Erik Murphy and Malcolm Thomas, who all have non-guaranteed contracts.

The deal gave the Cavaliers more flexibility as they could use the non-guaranteed deals in the Love deal or in getting a player that could be included in a potential trade with the Timberwolves.

The Cavaliers are still the favorite to land Love at this point, considering the fact that the 25-year-old All-Star is interested in playing alongside James in Cleveland.

The Golden State Warriors were also in the running, but they remained firm in their stance on keeping Klay Thompson, which ended the negotiations between the two teams.

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